


Relative Things

by BetanSurvey (Scedasticity)



Series: Mere Anarchy [3]
Category: Farscape
Genre: F/M, Family, Future Fic, Gen, Not comics compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-30
Updated: 2012-12-30
Packaged: 2017-11-23 01:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/616323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scedasticity/pseuds/BetanSurvey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanity is a relative thing, but that doesn't mean your relatives are sane.  --Or, John and Aeryn check in on the rest of the kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Relative Things

_"Sanity is a relative thing, but that doesn't mean your relatives are sane."_

They probably could have gotten permission to land at the Flight Academy, but in the interests of keeping a low profile, they set the transport pod down in Freetown instead. John really didn't like Freetown. For one thing, it was built on the (conveniently flattened) former site of the old Eidolon Temple, which meant that thousands of people had died there *and* he had a constant nagging feeling they were in a nuclear fallout zone, even though they technically weren't. (It hadn't been nuclear missiles, but something that destroyed without the -- well -- fallout. Convenient, that.) Also, the place was a pit. Happily, they were spared any extensive hikes through the latter-day Mos Eisley -- Ksenia set down her light atmospheric right in the docking bay next to the transport pod.

John watched the landing approvingly. "Didn't even scratch the paint. That thing looks a bit rattletrap, though."

Aeryn gave the craft a visual once-over, and nodded. "D'Argo did say it was a reclamation project."

The hatch popped, and Ksenia stuck her head out. "Aeryn, John, come on in."

"Granda! Granma!" Ry shrieked.

//That still sounds funny.// But it also still summoned what Pax called the "dopey kid smile", and John climbed readily into the atmospheric. "Hey, Ksenia, how's it going?"

"We're managing--"

"Granda! Granda!" From his safety seat, Ry stretched out and managed to catch hold of John's coat. "Grannnnnnnda!"

"Ry, wait a microt," Ksenia said firmly. "You don't have to sit with him, we can squeeze three in the front."

"Nah, I don't mind." John settled himself next to Ry, letting Aeryn go up to sit with Ksenia. "I've missed the little guy."

"Granda!" Ry crowed. "Granma!" He paused for a moment, then continued with, "Pilot!"

"Was that a question or a demand?" Aeryn asked as they lifted off.

"Yes?" Ksenia replied. "Ry, Pilot has to stay with Moya. He can't come to see us, we have to go see him. Later."

John grinned. "Took Dee a while to figure out that Pilot couldn't come with us down to planets. At one point he decided Pilot must be scared to."

"Not scared!" Ry declared, understanding the word, if not the sentence. "Granda! Gotta Lev-a-than!"

"But he can't have it in here because he's working on his overhand throw," Ksenia put in. "He's been driving Pax fahrbot."

"Pakssss!" Ry agreed. "Fahrbot!"

Ry had gotten a little less cherubic since John had seen him last. His hair wasn't quite as curly, though it was as golden as ever -- still couldn't decide between Dee's dark brown and Ksenia's white-blond, John supposed. His skin didn't look abnormally pink anymore, either. //Born with a suntan, but it will fade if neglected?// Well, who knew. At least the kid probably wasn't going to grow up looking like a boiled lobster.

Appearance aside, Ry was in fine form. "He still going after the knives?" John asked, remembering a recent transmission.

Ksenia sighed. "Yes. It wouldn't be such a problem if he didn't seem to think they're toys. *I* was taught never to handle knives for no suitable purpose, but I'm afraid Ry might get more creative than I was about finding a purpose. Dee wants to recruit him as kitchen help."

"That's how he got his early training with knives." Aeryn paused. "From Noranti, but the theory ought to be the same."

"Knifes," Ry said.

"Ry," Ksenia said warningly. "What do we know about knives? Knives are not toys."

"Knifes not toys," Ry obediently repeated. Then he sulked for about forty microts, before being distracted by the view out the window. "Ships, Granda! Ships!"

"Yup, there are a lot of ships here, Ry," John agreed. The place was hopping. "Do you like ships, kiddo?"

"Ships!"

Up front, Ksenia was saying to Aeryn, "Dee said you'd solved the Nebari mystery."

"Hardly. We know... some of the story. It was a Resistance tactic gone wrong, we think."

"An *accident*? Well, fr-ibbles." Ksenia paused to climb to a higher altitude. "Got a strange message from my sister yesterday."

"I thought you weren't in contact with your family?"

"Mostly I'm not. But Neaga doesn't have much to do with her time, so she sends the odd message. Apparently the Council's planning to send some people to Nebari."

John blinked. Last he'd heard, Ksenia's home planet had had exactly one surplus, and it wasn't something you'd expect to find in an aid package. "They're sendin' *tannot root*?"

"No -- well, maybe, actually, but the point was they're sending people. To settle in the available space."

"Oh." John thought it over. "That seems... uh... tacky?"

"It seems premature, given how little we still know about what happened," Aeryn corrected.

Ksenia shrugged. "They're getting desperate. The population pinch is hitting pretty hard, now, and the birthrate's holding steady at best--"

"Granda! Yondo Stoot!" Ry announced, apparently feeling left out.

"Really?" John looked out the window. "Oh, the Yondalao Institute. You know a lot of words, don't you, buddy?"

"Yondo Stoot! Paksssss!"

"Yes, Ry, Aunt Pax usually goes to the Yondalao Institute, but right now she's staying with us, remember?" Ksenia added, "He only just managed to start saying 'Paks' rather than 'Pask', so he's drawing it out a bit."

"Paksssss!" Ry repeated cheerfully.

//I bet Pax just *loves* this. Wonder whether anyone's brought up her "Darbo-Darbo-Darbo" period yet?// "What other words do you know, buddy?"

"Lots!"

"*No* remains his favorite," Ksenia said.

Ry dominated the conversation the rest of the way to the Flight Academy, pointing out landmarks and his opinions of them, some more comprehensible than others. ("Forest. Forest fun! Mem-mor-all. Memmol *borrin*.") The issue of Ksenia's crazy relatives was shelved.

#####

"Yeah, they're all *completely* fahrbot," D'Argo said. He and Aeryn were in the apartment's tiny kitchen, making supper. Ksenia was out doing a practice run on the night flight obstacle course, John was entertaining Ry (or the other way around), and Pax had shut herself in D'Argo and Ksenia's bedroom to study. "She doesn't talk about them much since the fight when she said she wasn't going back to Sykar even after she graduated, but she's kept in touch with Neaga."

Aeryn nodded. "Neaga being...?"

"Her older sister. One of the first of Ksenia's generation, so she got hit *bad* by the tannot. She's a, um, whatsit, a photophobe, which kinda limits what she does." D'Argo shrugged, and bent to check on the casserole in the cooker. "Just about done. She tells Ksenia about the more interesting news... why, did she say something on the way here?" Ksenia had left for her practice run about fifty microts after D'Argo got back from the lecture he was attending.

"Just that Neaga told her some Sykarans were going to Nebari space. To live there, apparently."

"Huh. Well, I can see -- oh, this is finished." Insulating mitts in place, he got the casserole out and looked around for someplace to set it. He had to nudge some dirty dishes aside first. "There. There should be some greens in the cooler, could you...?"

"Wash them?" Aeryn finished. "Yes. Are they grown on Arnessk?"

"Yeah, there're some homesteads out a ways. And a factory farm which seems to employ mostly desperate students." D'Argo leaned against the closed cooker. "What was I saying?"

"Sykarans going to Nebari space?" Aeryn prompted, dropping the greens in a strainer and moving the two steps to the sink.

"Right. I was saying, I can see why they'd think it was a good idea -- they still can't grow anything but tannot on Sykar, so they're dependent on outside resources *and* a tempting target. They're going to have a lot of trouble managing that, soon."

"More so than previously? She mentioned a population pinch..."

D'Argo shrugged. "Ksenia says there were pretty much no kids born for about ten cycles before you guys went through, and since then it's just been a trickle. Doesn't help that so much of her generation's just plain infertile."

"Or think they're infertile."

"Yeah, or think they're infertile." He smiled, still a little sheepish.

~~~~~  
 _  
D'Argo listened to the whole of John's "The Nebari are coming so you have to come with us and get the hell out of Dodge" speech, which Aeryn appreciated, since she'd had to listen to fifteen or twenty drafts of it. He did open his mouth a few times, but closed it without saying anything._

_"...So we understand -- we really understand -- that you don't want to interrupt your education, but we'd just feel a lot more comfortable if you'd come back to Moya for a while," John finished. "So what'd'you say, Dee?"_

_"Um... well, actually... I took my last practical ten days ago," D'Argo admitted after a few microts. "So it wouldn't really be an interruption."_

_John blinked. "You didn't tell us? No, never mind, that means you'll come, right?"_

_"It's just that something's come up."_

_//And if it's taken him this long to mention it, it's going to be... complicated.// "What is it, D'Argo?" Aeryn asked wearily._

_"Well, you know how year before last I told you my roommate dropped out after he ran the practice shuttle into the Memorial?"_

_"Yes..."_

_"I got a new roommate."_

_"And?" Aeryn prompted._

_"Same year as me, but they wanted to save space, and, uh, her roommate had moved into an apartment."_

_"And?" Aeryn asked again, just as John said, "Wait, 'her'?"_

_"...yeah. Her name is Ksenia. So between classes and the room we were, you know, spending a lot of time together, and..."_

_"I'm not sure I need to hear this," John said._

_"You're trying to say this... Ksenia is a recreation partner?" Aeryn said._

_"Yeah, didn't need to know that," John muttered._

_"No -- well, yes, but--" D'Argo stopped. "All right, the thing is, I asked and she said it wasn't possible, but she was wrong, and now she's pregnant."  
_  
~~~~~

"Pax, dinner's ready," Aeryn called as she carried the serving bowl of greens into the apartment's central room, D'Argo just behind her with the casserole. "Pax?"

"Just a microt!" Pax called.

John levered himself off the floor and scooped up Ry. "We better get our hands washed, huh, kiddo?"

"Geesy gimy gofa guts!" Ry said, and giggled.

"Dad!" D'Argo protested. "You know I hate that song!"

"What song?" John called from the bathroom.

"Geesy gimy gofa guts!"

"*That* song!"

"Just look on it as karmic payback for the number of times you insisted on hearing 'Old MacDonald Had A farm'."

D'Argo rolled his eyes. "Not the same thing, Dad. Watch Ry around the sink, he likes to splash."

"Geesy gimy gofa guts!"

"...Though it serves you right if he soaks you. Pax! Your dinner's gonna get cold!"

"Just a microt!"

D'Argo shook his head. "And three days later... Plates! I forgot the plates." He disappeared back into the kitchen.

John and Ry emerged from the bathroom, both of them with rather wet shirts. "Dee wasn't kidding," John admitted ruefully. "I wonder if they're giving him swimming lessons."

"Geesy gimy gofa guts!"

"Mutilated monkey meat, little baby birdies' feet," Pax half-sang, emerging at last. "Beat-out beetle brains--"

"Pax, shut up!" D'Argo yelled from the kitchen, appearing a moment later with a stack of gold plates. "In honor of Mom and Dad visiting, and all the others being dirty because *somebody* didn't wash them--"

"I'm not your live-in dishwasher, Dee!"

"--We'll be using the plates Uncle Rygel gave us." D'Argo set the dishes, and some forks, on the table. "Okay, we have the desk chair over here, Dad's got Ry settled, so I think we're good to go."

The casserole wasn't bad at all, and they even managed to minimize Ry's food-throwing, though he still somehow managed to get gravy in his hair. When they were done, John volunteered to clean up so D'Argo could give Ry a bath. D'Argo gratefully accepted, which left Aeryn in the central room with Pax. (John refused offers of assistance on the grounds the kitchen was too small.)

"How are you holding up?" Aeryn asked.

Pax shrugged, leaning back in the desk chair and swiveling back and forth a little. "All right. Worried about Zee. Worried about falling behind due to being dragged off by overprotective older brothers."

"It sounded like you're still doing assignments, though."

"Yes, but it's just rather silly to be using the distance curriculum when I'm under half an arn away." Pax crossed her arms. "We're looking at the political situation developing around the Nebari... thing. I think my Realpolitik professor has a spy in Sikozu Shanu's office, the way we've been updated on her every move."

"What's she doing?" Aeryn asked.

"Trying to convince umpteen minor powers that she has any authority over them at all.," Pax replied. "Doing better than you might expect. Also, apparently what's left of the Establishment and what's left of the Resistance are starting to make their presence known, and she's been trying to get them to at least talk to her. So far without much success."

Aeryn's eyes narrowed. "I imagine they aren't very happy about all their... company."

"You wouldn't think so, but so far they've mostly been getting into little fights with each other. Current assignment is to write an essay predicting whether or not they'll join forces to try to kick everyone else out of Nebari space. I'm going to say not -- they hate each other more than they hate Luxans or Kalish or Royal Sebaceans or Zenetans or whatever." Pushing back from the table, Pax got up and walked to the couch, a shabby piece of furniture with an expensive throw blanket draped over the back. "I hate that we still haven't heard from Aunt Chiana. You'd tell me, wouldn't you, if you'd... heard something?"

Even if it's bad news? was the unspoken coda. Aeryn went to sit next to her youngest child. "Yes, we would have told you." She paused to gather her thoughts before continuing. "I doubt we will get bad news about Chiana, Pax. We have no way of finding her, and she was underground -- we won't hear about her unless she contacts us. If she's dead, we'll probably never know what happened."

Pax nodded, and hugged her knees. "Do you think we could have gotten her to stay with us?"

"No. Not on Moya." Not on Hyneria or at Nron, either, for that matter -- Rygel and Stark had tried, at different times, to convince her. "The Resistance is where Chiana wanted to be."

"Yeah, but I didn't want her to be there," Pax muttered. "Stupid Nerri and his stupid Resistance."

"Pax--"

"Mom, they destroyed their civilization!"

"And probably saved the rest of us in the process, Pax, even if that wasn't what they meant to do," Aeryn said firmly.

Pax shrugged. "Maybe I'd feel more like you do if I'd ever been personally menaced by the Establishment, but I haven't."

"You have, actually, when it turned out a few Establishment operatives had tailed Chiana to the rendezvous," Aeryn pointed out. That had resulted in a very tense day running and hiding all over the central settlement of a commerce planet called Blarp.

Pax frowned. "Right. But the only thing I remember about it is Dad giving me more candy -- really gooey candy -- every time I opened my mouth, so it doesn't have the same emotional impact."

"I suppose not." Aeryn studied Pax for a few microts. "What are we talking about, Pax?"

"That I don't want Aunt Chi to have died for the Resistance, because it isn't worth it!"

"It was about Nerri, not the Resistance." Always about Nerri.

~~~~~  
 __  
"It sounds... intense," Aeryn ventured, watching Chiana make faces at the baby. "Are you enjoying it?"

_The Nebari snorted. "Enjoying it? Hardly. Shooting people is more your thing, y'know?" She half-smiled. "And Crichton blows things up."_

_"Blew things up," Aeryn corrected. "He's retired now."_

_"Sure he is." Chiana grinned. "That would be why you two had *nothing* to do with that little thing in the Refineries?"_

_Aeryn rolled her eyes. "Peripherally. We were peripherally involved only."_

_"And if I asked Little D'Argo, what would *he* say about that?"_

_"Not to call him 'little', for one thing. John can sometimes get away with 'Little D', but mostly he's insisting he's the *big* brother, and should be addressed accordingly."_

_Chiana sighed. "Hard to believe he's nine cycles old already." Nine cycles since Ka D'Argo died, she meant. She shook herself. "Well, you have Dee and Zee -- is this narl going to be called Pee?"_

_Aeryn raised her eyebrows. "And what does 'Pee' mean in English, Chiana?"_

_That made her laugh. When she stopped, though, she passed Pax back to Aeryn. "I don't like it," she said softly. "I don't like the ops and I don't like being back in Nebari-held territory. But Nerri needs me, Aeryn. He needs someone to remind him that there *is* something else in life besides fighting the Establishment." She rolled her eyes. "He's not getting much of that from anyone else. You wouldn't believe how long it's been since he's even frelled anyone -- I'm serious! Doesn't want to show weakness, or... something."_

_"How unfortunate," Aeryn replied, lips twitching._

_"Yeah. I've been looking for good prospects among female Resistance members -- and a few of the male ones, just in case, and there's this one androgen I think might have potential--"_

_"Does Nerri know you're doing this?"_

_"Not yet." Chiana shook her head. "It's not like I want to, but he doesn't frell, doesn't drink, doesn't do *anything* for fun. His head's going to explode if I don't do something quick."_

_And given that a highly-placed Resistance member probably wouldn't go in for anything intoxicating... "Fair enough," Aeryn conceded. "I expect we can leave the matter in your expert hands."_

_"Frell that," Chiana retorted indignantly. "Get people in bed with me, sure. Setting up other people, all I managed to do was start a fight between you and Crichton. Oh, and I guess I sort of accidentally set up the thing with D'Argo and Jool. That was weird. But overall, I'm no expert, and when it comes to being a -- a *procurer*--"_

_John commed then to announce that dinner was ready, and they never finished the conversation.  
_  
~~~~~

"I still wish she'd stayed," Pax whispered.

#####

"I don't want to hear any more songs about entrails," Dee warned in a whisper as he slid into the kitchen, Ry on his hip.

John looked up from stacking dishes. "Hey, go ahead and get the munchkin to bed. I got this under control."

"Yeah, I know -- only we usually put those in the next cabinet over -- but I wanted to tell you it looks like Mom has managed to get Pax to communicate in something besides a whine. I was thinking I'd help you with this, and then we could get Ry to bed." He shrugged. "The apartment doesn't have much in the way of privacy..."

"Sounds like a plan." Of course, Ry didn't look terribly sleepy, though at least he wasn't bouncing off the walls, but seemed content to lean on his father's shoulder. In fact, he looked very sweet in a green one-piece sleeper suit, holding a plush... um... "What's that he's got?"

"What? Oh, uh, that's Goony." Dee was remarkably good at drying dishes one-handed. "Present from Uncle Rygel. There's some sort of Hynerian animal that looks like that, apparently."

"Ah." John nodded. "Given the way he used to shower you with toys, it doesn't much surprise me, but I hadn't realized Ryge had gotten so involved with your home furnishing."

"Ksenia explained to him that we were running out of room." Dee made a face. "Which we are. Our basement storage is just filled edge to edge--"

"And he listened? I'm impressed."

Dee shrugged. "Well, she hit the right note, I guess. He wants us to come visit Hyneria. I think after Ksenia finishes her training, which shouldn't be too long now." He made another face. "Of course, then we'll have to decide what to do with our lives. Think Uncle Rygel will give us a ship?"

John blinked. "Um... probably. And a job, if you want one." Weird thought.

"If we knew what we wanted, we'd be farther than we are now." Dee shook his head, and pointed out the drawer for knives, forks, and spoons. "Ksenia wants--"

"Knifes," Ry said, perking up.

"Ry, you know Goony's too little to be around knives," Dee said, grinning. "Better hide his eyes." Ry promptly clapped a hand over most of the stuffed animal's six eyes, and whispered something unintelligible in its ear. "Okay, um, all Ksenia says is she wants to live somewhere non-poisonous and preferably not actively at war."

"Ruling out Sykar?"

"Yeah, pretty much. She was never all that fond of the place, but I think she might have felt obligated to go back, if not for..." Dee looked down at his son's golden head, and smiled. "She doesn't think it's a good place for kids."

//Lousy and occasionally toxic diet, intense solar radiation, intermittent guerilla warfare. Bad place for kids, check.// He still wished, sometimes, that they could have done more for the Sykarans than inspire a revolt and take off without waiting for the consequences. But he'd mostly worked through that guilt right after they'd met Ksenia, and really, there wasn't anything more they could have done. The planet had already been dying. At least now the Sykarans could make choices with their eyes open. "And what do *you* want, Dee?"

"Like I said, I don't know." Dee looked around the kitchen. "I think we got everything. Wow. We have counter space." He grinned. "Oh, that's what I want. To live somewhere with an automated dishwasher."

When they passed through the central room, Pax was ranting quietly about lost causes and didn't notice them sneaking into the bedroom, though Aeryn gave them a nod. //Poor Pax must be under a lot of stress she didn't want to talk to Dee about. I wonder why not?//

The bedroom was bigger than the kitchen, but not by much; Dee and Ksenia had a decent double bed, but Ry's was a child-sized mattress on the floor, adorned with several more soft toys. He held each of them up in turn for John's perusal.

"Gruff, this's my Granda. This Gruff. This Dreb. An' this Pask." Pask looked kind of like a cross between a Vorc and a snake; no doubt Pax had been just *delighted* by the honor. "Granda, story! Story!"

"Ssshhh, Ry," Dee said. "Ask nicely. We have to be careful not to get Goony and Gruff all riled up again, right?"

Ry nodded solemnly, then deposited both toys on the bed and dropped his pillow on top. "Sssshhh!" he admonished them. "Bedtime. But tell a story, Granda?"

"You got it, kiddo," John said, levering himself down to the floor by Ry's bed. "Have you heard the one that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?" He glanced up at Dee, who'd recognize the intro.

"No, he hasn't. Go ahead. Only don't get Goony and Gruff riled up, okay?"

John nodded and turned back to Ry (and the soft toys). "Okay, let me see. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

~~~~~  
 __  
"And they had a big celebration back on the jungle moon, and Princess Leia gave medals to Luke and Han."

_Pax smiled sleepily, but Zee, sitting cross-legged on her sister's bed, folded her arms. "Why doesn't Princess Leia get a medal? She risked her life transporting the plans, and was captured and tortured, and if it weren't for her neither of the boys would've done anything worthwhile."_

_//Because it was the '70s? Because she didn't blow anything up? You never asked about this before...// The perils of nine-year-olds with critical minds... John thought fast. "Well, she couldn't very well give herself a medal, could she?"_

_Zhaan considered this, then nodded. "All right. But she's much cooler than the boys. *And* smarter."_

_"'Cept she shoulda made a lot of copies of the plans," Pax put in, half sitting up._

_"She probably panicked and didn't think of it," Zee said before John could reply. "She was under a lot of pressure."_

_John hid a smile at the officious tone, but Pax accepted the explanation and lay down again. "They still didn't defeat the Empire."_

_"Not in this story, hon. That's for another time. And I think we had better let you get some sleep, okay, Paxaltation?"_

_Pax giggled. "All right, Daddy. Good night."_

_Zhaan accepted John's hand to get up and joined him walking out of the cell. She was quiet for a few microts, then whispered, "Daddy, I didn't want to ask in front of Pax, but I just thought of it this time through the story. Were there slaves on the Death Star?"_

_"Oh, Zee." John scooped her up, and winced. "Ooof! You're getting big for this. But no, Zee, there were no slaves on the Death Star, because this is just a story, and things in stories can be clean and neat with no collateral damage, and the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good."_

_"Except Lando," Zee said._

_"Except Lando, who was a good guy who did something bad," John agreed. "That's the difference between stories and the real world, which I think, honestly, is full of Landos."_

_Zee giggled. "And Darth Vader. Darth Vader was bad and became good."_

_"And went on to administer a peace between the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans," Dee suggested, joining them. He had announced that at fifteen, he was too old for bedtime stories -- especially bedtime stories for Pax -- but could still be found hanging around nearby with suspicious regularity._

_John mock-glared. "Don't push it, kiddo."_

_"So Zee's started questioning ~Star Wars~? Has she asked yet why they had that medal ceremony in the same base the Empire knew how to find instead of skedaddling like sensible people?"_

_"Because it's just a story, Dee," Zhaan replied. "*Ev*erybody knows that."_

_Dee nodded. "Well, if you want a really funny Star Wars story, ask Mom or Aunt Chi to tell you about ~Phantom Menace~ and ~Attack of the Clones~."_

_"Dee, what *are* you talkin' about?"_

_"And more importantly, about Dad's reaction when he got around to watching ~Attack of the Clones~."_

_"Don't pay any attention to your brother, Zee. He's imagining things."_

_"I think the DVDs are still hidden somewhere on board."_

_Zee's forehead wrinkled. "Attack of the what?"  
_  
~~~~~

John's "Star Wars for Two and a Half-Year-Olds" focused rather heavily on the droids, and they hadn't even made it to the homestead when Ry drifted off, head pillowed on Goony.

"Asleep at last," Dee whispered, and offered John a hand up. "Shall we see if Pax has gotten whatever it is out of her system?"

Evidently she had, and gone back to studying. Aeryn was reading something, too. "What've you got?" John asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Speculative designs for a new model of Prowler," Aeryn replied.

"They're makin' a new kind of Prowler?" John asked, startled. "That's not very peaceable."

"You'd hardly try to replace your primary fighter in wartime," Aeryn pointed out. "But no, they're not. Someone keeps producing these sorts of designs in an effort to convince them they ought to. My personal guess would be bored techs."

"That wouldn't explain why they always turn up here," Dee said. "I think it's someone at the Flight Academy."

John looked over the pages Aeryn had handed him. "They're not technical -- not much more than sketches. Could've been someone at the Flight Academy."

"Or it could have been a tech trying to draw something accessible," Aeryn countered.

"Also true." John handed the sketches back to Aeryn. "You collectin' these, Dee?"

"Only the ones that look interesting." Dee flipped through the collection and pointed to one in particular. "Isn't this a beauty? If Stark ever decides Nron needs a defense fleet, I think they should make some of these. It's not as well-armed as the current Prowler, but it has more passenger space, better armor, and more elegant lines."

John snorted. "Yeah, but what's it made of?"

Dee grinned. "Completely new and different materials."

"Hey, we don't want to encourage the Peacekeepers to go looking for wormholes."

"Of course not, but why should they be the only ones who can't safely fly through them?" Dee regarded the outlined fighter with a half-smile. "Anyway, I just said *I* liked it. I think the PKs are committed to the current Prowler for another thousand cycles or so."

"At least I'll be able to get spare parts," Aeryn replied. "But there are some elegant ships here. What time are you expecting Ksenia back?"

"Ohhhh... probably pretty soon, unless the course is busy. With practicals coming up, it might be." Dee shrugged. "She's going to grab a couple of bedrolls while she's out. We were thinking you guys could take our bed -- assuming you don't mind getting woken up by Ry -- we'd camp in the central room, and Pax can keep the couch."

"I've grown quite attached to it," Pax said. "Soon the lumps will be contoured to my body. Or vice versa."

"We don't want to put you out of your bed," John objected. //We're not that old and decrepit! I've been youthified and everything!//

"Don't worry about it."

"Well, if you insist." John looked at Aeryn. "I'm about ready to turn in. You want to check in with Pilot, or should I?"

#####

Between night practice, night classes, and night shifts, the apartment block never slept. There were still people in the foyer, in the hallways. Ksenia nodded politely to those she knew, and assessed those she didn't for threats, but didn't stop until she reached her own door. Thanks to the unpredictability of the Arnessk power generators during the early cycles, the apartment doors all had non-powered mechanical locks, and were opened by hand. Depending on the weather, they could also be a bit squeaky, and she winced at the squeal as she slipped inside.

Pax, asleep on the couch, shifted and mumbled something in her sleep but didn't wake up. Dee looked up and smiled from the work desk, his face illuminated by the compscreen, then got up and headed for the kitchen. Ksenia set down the bedrolls and followed him.

"How'd it go?" he whispered after she carefully slid the kitchen door shut.

"Not bad. Almost clipped a tailfin in the Spinning Blades Thing, but made it through just in time. I'm not worried about the atmospherics. The freespace practical's more worrying -- I've barely been out of a simulator, and they want me cruising the solar system at hetch? Really?"

"Aw, c'mon," Dee cajoled. "You're good in the sims, and you didn't have any problems with transport pods when we were on Moya."

"And how old were you when you started flying transport pods? Ten cycles, wasn't it? Besides, I'm more worried about the *big* craft. Like that cargo transport. Maneuvering that thing in minimal space--"

"And again, you're good in the sims. At least in the practical you're not likely to have those little distractions the sim throws at you." He paused, and shook his head. "Whoever programmed those had *way* too much fun."

"Especially with the Budongs," Ksenia agreed. "All right, all right, I'll stop fretting about the practicals. Your parents settled in all right?"

"Just fine. Mom even got Pax to talk. From what I heard, she's feeling pretty angry with Aunt Chi." Dee sighed. "And feeling guilty about it, not that she'll admit it, mind."

"Still no word?" Ksenia ventured.

"Nothing. Not a hint, not a whisper." He looked down. "I wish you'd met her, Kess. She was -- she is -- something else. Grew up nonconformist on Nebari *Prime* -- it was a long time before I understood how amazing that is. Dad said she could handle anything she could kick, kiss, or cry her way out of. She made her own way in the Uncharted Territories for cycles, alone. She was the first person I had a crush on -- which sounds creepy, I know, but Nebari live a *long* time. She'll still be young when *Ry's* grown up."

Ksenia nodded. Maybe time to lighten the mood a little. "I hope you're not going to credit her with teaching you to flirt, because frankly, Dee, you're not very good at it."

He gave her a Look. "This from the woman whose idea of flirting is grabbing someone and kissing them in the middle of the cafeteria?"

She shrugged and smirked. "It got results."

"That's 'cause most males can be led around by their mivonks."

"Hey, I got you, didn't I?"

He leaned in. "And what makes you think I'm not like most males?" he whispered in her ear before bending to kiss her neck.

She whispered back, "Because your parents are in our bedroom and your baby sister's on the couch."

He backed off, laughing. "Okay, yeah, we'd better try to get some sleep."

~~~~~  
 __  
She couldn't help but laugh at the way Dee was staring at her belly as if he expected to discover the secrets of the universe. "It's not gonna show for a while yet, Dee. And I'm told it won't do anything interesting for a while after that."

_He nodded distractedly. "Yeah, I guess not. My mom showed with my sisters really fast, but that's... different." He rolled over and sat up. "Yeah. Speaking of, I need to talk to you."_

_He sounded nervous. She frowned, and leaned back against the headboard, crossing her arms. "Look, if you've decided you want to get out of this, I'm not going to fuss." Though it would be a major disappointment -- as delighted as she was to discover the test had been wrong, she *could* have a child, the prospect of doing it *alone* was... daunting. "You didn't know you were getting into fatherhood, I can get by on my own--"_

_"No!" he protested urgently. "No. I don't want to walk out on you. But, um, you might want to walk out on me. I haven't been... I haven't told you the complete truth about my family."_

_Ksenia frowned. "You told me your mother was an ex-Peacekeeper and your father from a Sebacean cousin species." Peacekeeper connections and hybridization were surely bad enough, at least in *some* circles. "There's worse?"_

_"Not *worse*, exactly, just... very complicated." He squirmed. "Honestly I'm surprised everyone doesn't figure it out on their own, it's not that good a cover..."_

_"D'Argo Suncrichton, what are you talking about?"_

_"Um. There. Say it slowly."_

_"What?" Thoroughly confused now, she stared at him._

_"My family name. Say it slowly. Spread it out."_

_"Soon... kree... ten."_

_"No, no, it's not 'eee', it's more sort of a, um, an 'ahh-eee', but run together. Try it again."_

_"Could the truth you've been hiding be familial insanity?"_

_"Sure, but it isn't genetic." Dee closed his eyes. "Just the second two syllables."_

_"Fine, fine. Krahh-eee ten." She paused, and blinked. "Kra-ee ten. Kry-ten. You're not saying--" Ksenia broke off again. "You're telling me your father is frelling John Crichton?"_

_"No, my mother is frelling John Crichton. My father is John Crichton." He didn't open his eyes._

_"Well... flaming dren." She stared at him for a microt. "Frell."_

_"It can be a bit of a shock..."_

_"I'm just feeling grateful that I never tried to tell you a Crichton Story."_

_He looked up. "What?"_

_"He came to Sykar, you know? Ages ago. Cycles before the Peacekeeper-Scarran war. Mixed up in the Liberation of Thought." She shrugged. "Sometimes it seems like everyone over a certain age claims to have talked to him -- and a few people who *aren't*, and couldn't possibly have -- but Volmae said the Leviathan Moya really did pass through."_

_Dee nodded, starting to smile. "Are any of the stories embarrassing?"_

_"Yes -- but most of the worst ones are blatant lies."_

_"I'll have to hear some of those." Drawing up his knees, Dee studied her anxiously. "So you're not going to run screaming?"_

_"Ask me again if I get kidnapped and held hostage, but..." She shrugged. "I'm Sykaran, D'Argo. I was shot at -- or the person carrying me was -- before I could walk. I was helping distill tannot root to activate its explosive elements when I still couldn't be trusted not to put it in my mouth. I was shooting would-be occupiers as soon as my arms were long enough to manage those frelling homemade guns -- which, by the way, could accidentally explode and take your hands, arm, or head off for a hundred different reasons. Have I mentioned I hate those things? Anyway. I hate that planet, Dee, but it's where I grew up, and too much peace and quiet and I'd probably lose my mind. I can handle your weird family."_

_"Even my Uncle Stark?" Dee said, starting to smile. "He's a Banik Stykera."_

_Some Sykarans had rather low opinions of Baniks, or at least said so -- used them as a contrast, a *genuine* slave race, not like the Sykarans. Nobody had complained when the Center for Eleemosynary Medicine had sent some Banik healers, and some medicine, to Sykar during an outbreak of Jocacean pneumonia. And in any event-- "No problem," she said confidently._

_"No, Uncle Stark's great. His devoted followers can get a little annoying, though. What about my Aunt Chiana? She's a nonconformist Nebari, intermittently reformed thief, and self-confessed tralk."_

_"Well, given that I don't actually have anything to steal--"_

_"How about Uncle Rygel?" Dee was grinning now. "He's Dominar of Hyneria, and also my godfather. He gives me the most outrageous gifts--"_

_"Remember when I said I don't have anything to steal? Anyone planning on changing that is not a problem--"_

_"Then there's Grandma Noranti. She--" Dee broke off, then shook his head. "Nahhh, I'm not really trying to scare you off. The most challenging part -- not the scariest -- is my mom, my dad, and my sisters. Of those, probably my mom, but quite possibly my sisters." He paused thoughtfully. "Dad might freak over the pregnant girlfriend thing, but he'll be nice to you, regardless."_

_She nodded with appropriate solemnity. "When are you going to tell them?"_

_"Oh... probably about a quarter-arn after I absolutely have to?"  
_  
~~~~~

#####

John was awakened by small hands tugging at his left arm, which was dangling off the edge of the bed.

"Granda!" a voice chirped. "Up, Granda! Up, Granda! Up! Up! Up!"

John opened bleary eyes to see Ry's face under a foot away. "You want me to get up, kiddo, or you want up on the bed?"

"Up! Up! Up! Up!" He vanished from view.

Rolling onto his back, John dragged a hand over his face. "You awake?"

"Yes," Aeryn replied, sounding a bit more awake than *he* was. "So is our grandson, apparently."

"Up, Granda!" Ry called again, and something fluffy and a little damp *whuffed* into John's face. "Get Granda up! Gruff get Granda up! Time to get up, Ry!"

Aeryn glanced at the soft toy. "Gruff, I take it?"

"So I was introduced."

"I think that's supposed to be a razor-toothed vorlag."

"Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!"

Ry had started bouncing around the room, and John had to think of the downstairs neighbors. "So how early is it?"

"Late enough that we should probably get up."

"Up, Granma! Bring Gruff!"

John dragged himself out of bed and got dressed, Aeryn having heroically volunteered to take Ry to the potty. Leaving his boots off, he wandered out into the central room. It was the closest thing to spacious in the apartment, but it seemed a good bit smaller with two people asleep on the floor. Pax was still lying on the couch, but her eyes were open.

"This couch is evil," she whispered when she saw him looking. "It's some sort of malevolent Scarran plot."

Ry emerged from the bathroom with both pajama sleeves wet to the shoulder. "Mommee!" he said loudly, and before anyone could stop him made a dive for Dee and Ksenia.

"Oooff!"

"Wha...?"

"Sorry," John said. "Didn't see that coming."

"No problem," Ksenia replied, Dee still trying to recapture the air Ry's landing had squeezed out of his lungs. "Morning, Ry. How did you sleep?"

"Good, Mommee! Up! Up up up!"

"Not just yet, sweetie, Daddy's trying to get his breath back."

"Mommee! Geesy gimy gofa guts!"

Dee groaned and threw an arm over his face. "You are in big trouble, *Granda*."

Ksenia half-sat. "What was that?"

"Geesy gimy gofa guts! Geesy gimy gofa guts!"

"Line from a song which I hate, and which Dad appears to have taught to Ry anyway."

"He's got a good memory," John started defensively, only to be cut off by Pax.

"It's a great song, Dee. Juvenile, but funny. What do you have against it?"

"You wouldn't like it either if you ever cooked with Noranti."

John blinked, thought that over, and paled. "Oookay, and that's enough of the great big globs." At least if he wanted to choke down anything Noranti cooked ever again. One had to avoid giving oneself -- or Noranti -- *ideas*.

"Wimps," Pax muttered.

Five adults moving around the apartment trying to start the day proved awkward, to the point where Dee started laughingly ordering people around. Breakfast was remarkably like Grape-Nuts, but in water rather than milk. Ry did not get dressed until *after* his breakfast.

"What's on your schedules today?" Aeryn asked when the racket died down a little.

"Prakkals!" Ry yelled.

Ksenia grimaced. "Yes, practicals. Ry's been hearing rather a lot about them. I have advanced atmospheric maneuvers today and tonight. Launch and reentry were day before yesterday. And the freespace practicals should be not long after that -- tomorrow, the day after, *sometime* in the next five to ten solar days."

Sometimes, John got the feeling that Dee and Ksenia deliberately avoided mentioning big news like practical exams in comms -- Dee hadn't mentioned he'd *passed* his until they showed up in person. //Not to mention the pregnant girlfriend detail.//

~~~~~  
 __  
"Pregnant?"

_"Um. Yes," Dee said nervously. "Still in the first quadmester, but she fainted once, so she's been grounded and couldn't take the practicals."_

_"Pregnant?" John said again. Twenty-two. Dee was only twenty-two years old. //Way too young for this.// A tiny voice whispered that it was hardly unheard-of, but John ignored it._

_"*Yes*, Dad. And I, um, I promised I'd be there for her, and the baby."_

_"Well -- of course you did!" The world stabilized. "She'll have to come, too."_

_"I'd have to talk to *her*--"_

_"Hang on a microt, both of you," Aeryn said sternly. "Are you sure about this, D'Argo?"_

_"I need to talk to Kess--"_

_"No. I mean, are you sure you want to make this commitment?"_

_"Aeryn!" John protested, and then suddenly wondered if she was thinking of the Royal Planet._

_"Do you love her?" Aeryn continued ruthlessly._

_"Well -- I, um -- Mom! That's not the point! She, she doesn't have anyone else -- her family's not on this planet, and she had a fight with them about going to flight school and doesn't want to go slinking back, and anyway she's pretty sure her home planet is very unhealthy for babies, and-- There's lots of stuff."_

_"But do you love her?"_

_"Mom..." Dee protested. John stayed quiet. If he had anything to say about it, the girlfriend would be coming with them regardless, but it was probably a good idea for Dee to figure this out._

_"Do. You. Love. Her."_

_Dee flung up his hands. "I don't *know*, Mom!" He sat down heavily on the bed. "It's not like one of those fairy tales. And it's not -- not the way you guys love each other. But Ksenia is my *friend*, and I *care* about her, and in this situation I'd want to help her even if it wasn't my kid."_

_Aeryn relaxed, nodding. "That's all I needed to hear, D'Argo."_

_//Which part?// John wondered. "Well, if that's settled--"_

_The door opened behind them. "D'Argo? Senni said some strange people were looking for--" The speaker broke off as John and Aeryn turned. She was young and Sebacean -- or Sebacean-looking -- with blue eyes, white-blond hair, and deeply tanned skin. Something about that combination triggered something in the back of John's memory, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "I, uh, I guess they... found you..." Her eyes darted between Aeryn and John._

_"Ksenia!" Dee jumped up. "These are my parents, um, Aeryn Sun and John Crichton. Mom, Dad, this is Ksenia."_

_//Ksenia, Warrior Princess?// She didn't look like a soldier, though, especially in the gray slacks and green tee-shirt that seemed to be the unofficial uniform of the Neutral Territories Flight Academy. "Pleased to meet you," John said, offering a hand._

_After a glance at Dee, she took it. "Um, yes. Pleased to meet you. This is a... surprise."_

_"Yeah, they dropped in," Dee said hurriedly. "Look, Ksenia, this is sort of complicated. It's about the Nebari..."  
_  
~~~~~

"I don't have exams, but there's a lot of classwork," Pax said. "Mom, I really think I'm okay to go back to the Institute dorms..."

"We can discuss that later. D'Argo?"

Their son shrugged. "A lecture or two I'd like to attend in person, if you guys wouldn't mind staying with Ry. Otherwise--"

"Nayer trale!" Ry piped. "Nayer trale, Daddee!"

John looked at Dee; Dee translated, "Nature trail. There's no reason you two couldn't take him there, if you want to."

"Nayer trale, Granda!"

"Today?" Ksenia said, sounding dubious.

"Sure, why not? Anyone taking the practicals should be competent enough not to crash." Dee looked back to John and Aeryn. "The nature trail is under an atmospheric practice area, so you do sometimes get crashes, but they're pretty obvious coming. But can you take him?"

Aeryn looked at John, then nodded. "Of course. What else does he like to do?"

"Play with his zillions of toys," Pax said. "Noisily. I never had that many toys."

"You had all my hand-me-downs, and all *Zee's* hand-me-downs, *and* new toys just for you. All of Ry's are stuffed in this apartment, so it seems like more."

Pax huffed, but just said, "I did *not* have all Zee's hand-me-downs. She always claimed she was still using them."

"Well, I think he has more toys than are on my entire planet," Ksenia put in. "If you want to borrow some of them, Pax..." Pax just aimed a disgusted look at the room in general.

#####

It took several false starts, but eventually her parents got Ry out the door without returning ten microts later for some forgotten article. Pax waited five hundred microts, just to be safe, before pulling out her work. Last time she'd had the flimsy-map out around Ry, he'd gotten fruit gelatin on it. There was still a funny blue stain in the middle of the smallest continent. //This area of Nebari Prime devastated by jello bombardment. Noisy yellow-haired toddler believed responsible.//

She got the map unrolled on Dee and Ksenia's battered table, and weighed down the corners with some of Ry's toys. The base of the map was Nebari Prime before the Transmission and the Collapse, or at least an approximation of it. The assignment was to update it -- with damage, occupations, sites of noteworthy incidents, and so on -- with the information the Institute received, which generally didn't include maps. (Pax had a nagging feeling that when she finally got back, her map was going to look *significantly* different from everyone else's, because she hadn't been able to compare notes.) Many of the Nebari colony worlds had been swallowed up entire by the Peacekeepers, the Scarrans, and some of the stronger minor powers, and there was supposed to be one where the Nebari planetary administration was actually still functioning, but several worlds were going the way of Nebari Prime -- divided up piecemeal among anyone who could get their hand in. Pax placed another yellow dot, denoting a suspected Zenetan encampment.

//I should ask Zee if the Eleemosynaries are making any sort of map. Get her to send a copy.// Stupid Zee, staying on a planet with Zenetans and Sheyang and Kalish and Luxans and Royal Sebaceans and Traoists and who knew what else -- oh, yeah, and Nebari -- running amok.

"Three cycles," Pax said aloud. "She's three frelling cycles older than me, that's all. And somehow it means *she* can go mess around on planets with societal collapse, escalating political tensions, and -- and *zombie-Nebari*, while I can't even be left in peace in a dorm." Being the youngest was a terrible fate.

Adjusting the color on her stylus, Pax started sketching in Kalish-controlled territory on the middle continent. The line had crept outward in all directions from where it had been after the previous update. Luxan-controlled territory, on the other hand, looked to have sprung out a long way in one direction, and if anything receded on the other sides. Interesting. Difference due to culture, or circumstances?

The problem with the Nebari situation -- besides homework assignments, chaos, crazy Zhaan being in the middle of it, and *zombies* -- was that she just couldn't see any good outcome. She never had been able to. And she wasn't convinced anyone else ever had, either.

~~~~~  
 __  
Pax chewed on her lip, staring at the celebrating Baniks below without really seeing them. She didn't pay any more attention to other occupants of the upper-level walkway around the assembly hall, so when Aunt Chiana suddenly crouched down next to her, she started violently and smacked her head on the safety railing. "Ow!" Pax yelped. "That *hurt*."

_"Sorry about that, narl," Chiana replied with a grin. "What are you doing all alone up here?" She shifted to sit cross-legged. "Your parents know where you are?"_

_Pax rolled her eyes, and pointed to where her mom and dad were talking with Uncle Stark and some Interion. "I waved to them earlier, and they waved back. And I'm not a narl anymore, Aunt Chi. I'm *nine*. Almost."_

_"Very old indeed," Chiana agreed solemnly, then spoiled it with a snicker. "So what *are* you doing, all alone up here?"_

_"Thinking. And watching Dee trip over his tongue when the Banik girls flirt with him but get all overprotective when anybody tries to flirt with Zee, but mostly thinking."_

_"What about?"_

_Pax waved a hand at the room below. "They're celebrating the Liberation. Well, one of the Liberations. Right?"_

_"Right..."_

_"When they got the Arrheniat system to let them go, ten cycles ago."_

_"Uh-huh..."_

_"And some of the other Baniks here got let go by other people, later."_

_"Yeah..."_

_"So a Banik Liberation usually means Baniks getting to leave somewhere, so the goal of a Banik Resistance would be being let go, right?"_

_Chiana nodded. "I'm not sure there are Banik resistance groups as such, but if there were, you'd be right."_

_"Yes. But then there's the Kalish Resistance. I've heard lots of people talk about them. What *they* want is for the Scarrans to leave them alone. Everything else is just on the way to that. They don't care what the Scarrans do otherwise, really."_

_"Sounds reasonable."_

_"That Sykaran thing is just trying to kick everybody else off the planet."_

_"Yes..."_

_"And on Khurtanen, women want equality with men."_

_"Some of 'em do, anyway."_

_"So that's what *that's* trying to do." Pax looked up at Aunt Chi. "So what's the Nebari Resistance trying to do? It can't be to leave, because your brother went back. It can't be to kick someone else out, because if you just kicked out the -- the grand high muckety-mucks, you'd still have planets full of dopey people loyal to the muckety-mucks, and if you kicked out everyone but the Resistance -- well, I don't know where they'd *go*, and you'd have just a few Resistance people rattling around Nebari space. It can't be for equality, because if just the Resistance got equality, it would be like joining the Establishment, and most of the people don't *want* equality. So what are they -- what are you trying to do?"_

_Chiana sighed. "Bring down the Establishment, Pax. Take their -- make them let go of their power."_

_Pax nodded. "And then what?"_

_"Happily not my job to puzzle over." Chiana bounced up, and hauled Pax to her feet, willy-nilly. "Come on, let's go embarrass your brother."  
_  
~~~~~

Pax rested her hands on the table and her chin on her hands, and stared cross-eyed at the dam she'd Xed out. The Transmission had been a clever strategy, really -- the Resistance must have been trying to settle that big looming "everyone else" problem, push everyone onto one side or the other. Shame they'd messed up and turned them into zombies instead.

"How did they *do* that, anyway?" she muttered. She was torn between hoping someone would figure it out, and hoping they never would -- after all, someone might try to do it again. //And without good intentions, this time.//

Giving up on the map for the moment, she removed Ry's toys and let the thing roll itself up. She'd make a list of reasons why she could go back to her dorm, and present it to her parents after they brought Ry back for his morning nap.

She was on reason number eleven when someone knocked on the door. Peering through the peephole, she saw her father. Drenched.

//Somebody should have checked the weather forecasts, I guess,// she thought as she opened the door. Her mother and Ry were equally soaked. "Raining?"

"Eeeeyak! Eeeeyak, Paksssss!" Ry sang.

"He's been saying that most of the way back," her father said, peeling off his coat. "I'm not sure what it means--"

"I think it's supposed to be the Sykaran word for rain, but not close enough for the translator microbes to catch," Pax interrupted. "As far as I can tell, he mostly uses Peacekeeper-standard Sebacean -- Dee and Ksenia both speak that -- but with some English and Sykaran mixed in. A lot of his weather-words are Sykaran. Or will be, eventually."

"Eeeeyak, Paksssss!"

"Dad, could you please not let him jump on me?"

"Okay, cowboy, settle down--"

"Eeeeeeeyak!"

#####

Aeryn waited for Ry's breathing to settle into the even pattern of sleep, then crept out of the bedroom to sit next to John on the couch. He was still trying to wring water out of his socks. "It's not as bad as the time with the windstorm," she said after a microt.

"Or the time with the big-toothed sort of bear things," he agreed. "We really ought to know better than to go on nature walks, huh?"

"The mudslides, don't forget the mudslides," Pax put in. "And the time Zee broke both her ankles trying to bungee-jump."

Aeryn winced at the memory. "That wasn't a nature walk." Just one of the stupidest stunts their offspring had pulled. //Up there with D'Argo and Noranti trying to fly the Farscape module.// Though D'Argo had been only four at the time, so that wasn't really his responsibility. The incident with Aeryn's Prowler, on the other hand...

"Ah, weather," John said. "Hope Ksenia's practicals are going okay, though I suppose some of it should be above the clouds, anyway..."

"What are they going to do once she passes the practicals, anyway?" Pax asked. "I mean, Zhaan will keep going with the Eleemosynaries, just with more responsibility. I want to work for the Eidolons as a researcher and negotiator. But Dee and Ksenia are going to... what?"

"They haven't decided yet," Aeryn replied. "If worst comes to worst, Rygel would doubtless be happy to give them jobs."

Pax snorted. "Uncle Rygel is more than a little *ridiculous* about D'Argo."

"It's only natural, given the circumstances."

"Whatever." Pax straightened up. "Mom, Dad, I really think I can go back to the dorm any time now. I've made a list of reasons. First, this apartment is small even with just D'Argo and Ksenia in it. And Ry. Ry isn't as big, but he makes up for it in energy levels. One or two more people can fit in a pinch, but three more? We were running into each other all morning. Second, not being able to consult with my classmates is hindering my work. Third, I acknowledge that I overreacted and worried everyone with too many comm messages. It was just the initial shock. And I was never in any danger, anyway -- I was just venting. So you don't need to worry about me. Fourth, I'm more likely to pick up useful information about the Nebari situation if I'm actually *at* the Institute. Fifth--"

"Whoa, hey!" John laughed, waving a hand. "Nice position paper, Pax, but let your mom and me get a word in edgewise, okay?"

"As long as the words are 'Yes, you can go back to the Institute, Pax', I'm all ears."

Aeryn sighed. "You do realize that you aren't here solely for your own benefit, or even because we think you'll get in trouble at the Institute on your own."

"Although thirty-nine hysterical messages warning of the end of life as we know it might make you think that about anyone," John muttered.

Aeryn gave him a quelling look. Though he had a point. "You're here because we're trying to brace for when things get worse, or at least more complicated." //As they inevitably will.//

"We don't know when or how the other shoe's gonna drop, but we want to be ready to face it -- together -- when it does," John put in. "Since Ksenia can't really telecommute for her flight classes, that means we're all stuffed into this little apartment for the moment."

"And why isn't Zhaan here?" Pax retorted.

"Not because I don't wish she was."

"But she's been... on top of things so far," Aeryn interjected.

Pax frowned. "So what you're saying, Dad, is that you're trying to be prepared to make a sudden break for unoccupied space if the Nebari attack, even though the Nebari aren't in any condition to attack anyone right now."

"Not... exactly." Pax was just determined to be difficult about this, wasn't she. Aeryn couldn't really blame her.

"Pax, you know our record. Things *will* get screwier. We're just tryin' to be prepared."

"As far as that's possible," Aeryn said, catching John's eyes. There was always something. The trouble was, sometimes things just sprang up, and no matter how hard you tried to protect the kids, they still got hurt.

~~~~~  
 __  
John ducked hastily back inside, closing the hostelry balcony door behind him. "No, they are *definitely* not settlin' down."

_D'Argo, sprawled on the bed with a handheld game, sighed loudly. "I guess this means I can't go down to the swimming pool?"_

_Aeryn didn't feel that really required a reply. (Fortunately, Zhaan was engrossed in sorting Pax's teething toys by size and color and apparently hadn't heard the mention of the pool.) Instead, she asked John, "Is it getting violent?"_

_"Not yet. I think the Baniks are doing the nonviolent thing -- left the mining tools at home, brought the small children as alternative visual aids." He grimaced. "Which is not gonna be good if local law enforcement gets aggressive. We picked a hell of a time for a vacation. And it looked like such a nice little planet..."_

_"Every planet has its ugly side," Aeryn reminded him. "The people from this planet's ugly side just happen to have been listening to Stark, apparently." While the people with the power refused to even acknowledge their slaves might have wills of their own._

_"And more power to 'em, I just wish they could've done it a week later."_

_Aeryn nodded. "I'm going to contact Pilot, ask him to send a message to Nron to make sure Stark knows about this." With any luck, the Stykera would be able to at least get the locals to negotiate. People were taking him seriously, these days, after the Nron takeover and Krolin, where he was more and more often credited with averting a bloodbath._

_"Are we going to be carrying Baniks to Nron?" D'Argo asked plaintively, looking up. "*Again*? I won't have to share my room, will I?"_

_"There are -- whaddya think, Aeryn, maybe a million Baniks on-planet? More? Most of their mining operations, a lot of manufacturing..."_

_"More than a million, but... it's not densely settled. Five million?" Aeryn shrugged. "More than we could transport, D'Argo. Even if we take some of them, you won't have to share your room."_

_"Awww, we *are*?"_

_"We haven't decided, Dee, we haven't even talked to Stark."_

_"Uncle Stark has his own ships," D'Argo said reasonably. "Or Nron does, anyway. They don't need *us*."_

_"Maybe, maybe not. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."_

_Leaving John to deal with D'Argo, Aeryn walked to the other end of the room, where Pax was asleep in her carrier and it was a little quieter. She activated her comm. "Pilot, do you read me?"_

_"Yes, Aeryn. Are you all right? We are hearing a lot of chatter about the situation down there."_

_"Fine, Pilot. We were hoping you could contact Stark, to inform him of what's happening if he doesn't already know--"_

_She saw the flash of light from outside the windows and, without even fully realizing what she was seeing, snatched Pax from her carrier and spun to face the interior wall. A split microt later there was a tremendous *boom*, and the windows shattered inwards. Aeryn was knocked forward, but managed to land on her side, curled around the baby, who was now awake and wailing._

_"Aeryn! Crichton!" Pilot cried. "Are you all right?"_

_"Just a microt, Pilot--" She sat up, still cradling Pax, and looked around. There was glass everywhere. John was picking himself up from the floor, clutching at his shoulder with red-smeared fingers. D'Argo seemed to have rolled or been knocked off the bed, and was lying next to Zhaan, curled into a ball. Zhaan seemed to have been sheltered by the bed from the explosion and debris -- her hair wasn't even mussed -- but from her face she was winding up for a screaming fit to rival the pandemonium outside._

_"Dee!" John wheezed. "Dee, are you okay?"_

_"...Dad, it hurts..."_

_Not just curled into a ball -- he had his arms across his face. Frell! Aeryn scooted across the floor, sleeve over her hand to protect against cuts, and reached D'Argo just after John. "Dee, man, I need to look at your face, okay? Dee?" Carefully, John lifted their son to prop him against the bed, and pulled his arms away. His face was covered in blood. John's face went white, but his voice was admirably calm. "Where does it hurt, Dee?"_

_"...my face."_

_Zhaan let out the howl that had been building. "Mommy! Daddy! Mommeeee!" But she wasn't hurt, so..._

_"Zhaan," Aeryn said firmly, turning her to look her in the eye. "We need to take care of your brother now. Do you think you can hold the baby for a few microts?"_

_Zhaan threw herself at Aeryn. "Mommy!"_

_"Just for a few microts, Zhaan." D'Argo was now clutching at John's sleeves, leaving him with no free hands. She settled Zhaan back against the bed, and put the still-crying Pax in her lap. "Just hold her, and don't let her touch the broken glass."_

_"'Kay, Mommy..."_

_The bedspread would have more glass on it, so Aeryn grabbed a clean shirt out of the duffel bag and doused it with a water bottle. "D'Argo, I'm going to clean away the blood now, all right? It will hurt, but you need to hold still." As much as was possible while shaking, anyway._

_There was a narrow scratch on one cheek, she saw quickly, but that wouldn't account for the blood. D'Argo's eyes were screwed shut. "Can you open your eyes?"_

_"I got blood in them," D'Argo said shakily._

_Not surprising, given the deep gash on his forehead. Aeryn finished wiping away the blood, and then held the shirt to the cut. "Try now."_

_His eyelids were gummed with blood, but opened to reveal red, watery, but undamaged eyes. He looked around, swallowing hard. "What happened?"_

_"Damned if I know," John growled. "What kind of criminal would set off a bomb in a crowded--" He broke off and closed his eyes._

_"John, this isn't the time for this." Aeryn pulled off her belt, and used it to keep pressure on the bandage. D'Argo was starting to sniffle. "D'Argo, hang onto your sisters for a bit. I need to see to your father's shoulder."_

_"Okay, Mom."_

_"Yeah, I think the glass is still in there," John said softly._

_"Aeryn?" Pilot repeated anxiously._

_"It's nothing too serious, Pilot," she said briskly, as much for the kids' benefit as Pilot's. "We need a little first aid, then we'll try to figure out what the frell happened." Now how was she going to get the glass out...?_

_Zhaan sniffled and hiccuped, then whispered somberly, "Mommy said frell."  
_  
~~~~~

Aeryn took a deep breath. "Pax, if you're sure you don't want to be here, we're not going to force you to stay."

Pax blinked, and looked at John as if expecting a contradiction -- which wouldn't have surprised Aeryn, either -- but he just sighed. "You're not?" she asked.

"No, we're not, kiddo. You just take care of yourself."

"Dad, I've *asked* you not to call me kiddo."

"Sorry, kiddo."

Leaving them to it, Aeryn went to the kitchen to see if D'Argo and Ksenia had any tea. They were terribly worried about Zhaan -- //and Chiana// -- but that didn't mean they should treat Pax like a child. She was just relieved John saw it, too.

#####

It was still raining when the second lecture ended. D'Argo sprinted the twenty motras from the covered walkway to the apartment block, and still ended up pretty wet. Why had he never managed to purchase a raincape? Kess would say it was his spacer upbringing. //Not completely fair. It's not like I never spent any time on planets as a kid. And Hyneria was certainly rainy enough!//

He went into their apartment to be greeted with the smell of something cooking, "Daddee! Geesy gimy gofa guts! Eeeeyak!", and "Dee, there you are! Can you fly me back to the Institute tonight?"

Dee held up his hands. "Think I could catch my breath for a microt before everyone tackles me?" He tossed aside his backpack and hefted Ry. "Hey, big guy, how was the nature trail?"

"Eeeeeeyak, Daddee! Wet!

"Yes, it is certainly wet and eeyak out there. Were you good for Granda and Granma?"

"Good! D'sert!"

"Not bad," 'Granda' said. "After his morning nap, we had lunch and looked at all his spaceships. Then it was time for afternoon nap, so we had a little more galaxy far, far away story to get us calmed down. I think Aeryn is reheating some leftovers for dinner."

"D'sert!"

"Does that mean what I think it does?"

"Probably." Ry was very enthusiastic about his dessert. "What were you saying, Pax?"

"Can you take me back to the Institute tonight, Dee? Mom and Dad say I can go."

"They do?" D'Argo looked at his father for confirmation. //I did tell them about that bomb-shelter thing she had going under her bed, didn't I?//

"If she really wants to."

"But not tonight, if you're tired," his mom called from the kitchen.

"I don't think he's tired. And no offense, Dee, but *I'm* really tired of your couch."

"Can't blame you for that." Dee ran a hand through his hair. "All right, if it's not too late when we're done with dinner, I'll run you back." //And will that work out as one more thing to worry about, since she won't be here, or one *less* thing to worry about, since she won't be here? Oh, whatever.// Funny, how now they were all worrying about Aunt Chi because she *wasn't* there. //Used to be she was the biggest concern when she *was* there...//

~~~~~  
 __  
"I thought Aunt Chi was going to sit with us," Dee whispered. Without Aunt Chi, it was going to be really boring. He liked visiting Uncle Rygel, and it was fun that he could sit on the Hynerian benches while the grown-ups sat on the floor, but the state dinners went on *forever*. "You said Aunt Chi would sit with us. I wanna tell her about the new baby."

_"I think Aunt Chi has noticed there's a baby on the way," Mommy said, one hand on her big stomach. "At this point it would be hard to miss."_

_"I wanna tell her we should name the new baby Zapoblix Grevysmit."_

_"Not if it's a girl," Daddy said. "I'm hoping more and more that it's a girl," he added, to Mommy._

_"I think Zapoblix Grevysmit is a great name," Dee grumbled. "I bet Aunt Chi will like it, too." He shifted to get his knees under him, and looked across the room to where Aunt Chi was sitting next to a... um... "What species is that? Next to Aunt Chi?"_

_Mommy frowned. "I think it's a Zenetan."_

_"What's a Zenetan doing here?" Daddy asked._

_"Besides being -- ah -- entertained by Chiana?"_

_"What's she doing?" It didn't look very entertaining to Dee. In fact she didn't seem to be doing much of anything that he could see._

_"I'll tell you later, Dee. Much later."_

_"Daddy!"_

_Dee sulked, but his parents ignored it, so he gave up after a few microts. Aunt Chi was still talking to the Zenetan, leaning forward like she was going to kiss him. But Uncle Rygel was coming, zooming down the table on his hoverthrone, occasionally acknowledging the bows from the Hynerians, once pausing to greet a fancily-dressed Sebacean, but heading for them. Dee grinned, and tugged at his mother's arm._

_"Mommy, it's Uncle Rygel!"_

_"So it is." She nodded a greeting. "Rygel."_

_"Aeryn. Crichton." He nodded regally. "I was happy to see your names on the list for this evening. Another creature on the way? Glad to see you're carrying it yourself."_

_"We're hoping to take advantage of a hospital here, actually..."_

_"I wanna name the baby Zapoblix Grevysmit!" Dee said eagerly._

_"Why, look who we have here!" Rygel said. "It's my godson... Tee, was it?"_

_"I'm Dee, Uncle Rygel!"_

_"So you are." Rygel frowned fiercely. "I think I have something here for a D'Argo Sun Crichton..."_

_"That's me, too!"_

_"Are you sure?" Rygel paused, then smiled. "Yes, I think so." From somewhere in the hoverthrone, he produced a little ship, and handed it to Dee. "A Luxan scout ship for you to fly yourself. And here's the controller."_

_"It really flies? Drad! Thank you, Uncle Rygel!"_

_"You're gonna spoil him rotten, Ryge," Daddy said. "I see Pip's here."_

_"Yes, she's just, hem, investigating something for me."_

_"Or someone," Mommy suggested._

_"Yes, or someone." He smirked. "He's the head of a... trading consortium, or so he claims. Chiana's... looking into it for me."_

_"Yeah, I can see that."_

_"He'll never know what hit him." Uncle Rygel smiled fondly. "I miss having the little tralk here for the long term. She was an asset to the court. But these... other commitments..."_

_Daddy snorted. "Commitments indeed."_

_"She's wanted to join Nerri for a long time," Mommy said quietly. "We really should be grateful we see her at all. It's a risk."_

_"Doesn't mean I have to like it."_

_Dee wasn't quite sure what they were talking about. "Aunt Chi's supposed to sit with *us*. I wanna tell her about the baby. I think Aunt Chi will like the name Zapoblix Grevysmit."_

_"Chiana of all people will understand why I don't want to get Dee a virtual reality game," Daddy muttered, not quietly enough._

_"That doesn't mean the *name's* bad, Daddy!" Dee protested. "Zapoblix Grevysmit is the best name ever. I think it would be cool."_

_"But if it's a girl, we are definitely naming her Zhaan," Mommy said._

_"God, I hope it's a girl."_

_"Daddy!"  
_  
~~~~~

D'Argo helped Pax carry her stuff back into the Institute dorm, since she had the enormous projection map to handle. They were barely into the lobby (both dripping) when Pax was hailed by a Kalish boy who looked even younger than she was.

"Pax! News just came -- the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans are meeting to discuss Nebari space."

Pax perked up. "No dren? What kind of discussion?"

"Not sure, but I bet it's territorial division, regions of influence, that sort of thing. Formalizing what they've already done. There's a betting pool on which planets will be left to the minor powers."

"Hmmmm." Pax nodded thoughtfully. "Do they have an exhaustive list of planets now, then?"

"You know, I'm not sure." The Kalish shrugged. "Who's this?"

"Him? My older brother. I was helping watch my nephew for a few days."

Dee rolled his eyes, but didn't comment on that little interpretation. "Pax, do you have any towels in your room? My hair is dripping down the back of my neck."

"Sure. See you, Ellik! C'mon, Dee, this way."

"I've been there, remember?"

Pax greeted her room with a smile of relief, just as if she hadn't been in histrionics when Dee hauled her out of it. "Great. Now I just need to get some sleep, and I'll be ready to get back into the swing of things."

"Right. Stay calm this time, okay, Pax?"

"Dee--"

"I'm serious." He put a hand on her shoulder. "We've got enough to worry about right now. Stay calm, and take care of yourself."

"You take care of yourself, too." She gave him a quick hug. "Don't let your little monster run you ragged. And keep an eye on Mom and Dad. Don't let them go charging off into the thick of things."

"You think I can stop them?"

"Hey, you're the oldest."

"That doesn't make me a miracle worker, Pax. Besides, you're the diplomat in the family!"

"No, this is diplomacy. I'm trying force-of-personality persuasion."

"When Mom and Dad did that, they usually had some manner of artillery support." D'Argo stepped back towards the door. "Someone'll comm you tomorrow."

"Just not during my classes, *please*."

#####

Exploring space was... well, *fun*, but sititng in orbit of Arnessk without even any crew aboard had the potential to get *very* boring. There were maintenance tasks to be checked, cleanup to do -- but nothing interesting, apart from continuing to unscramble signals they'd picked up from Nebari space, and that wasn't nearly enough to keep them occupied. //So,// Pilot thought, //let's see if we can get some information.// Moya agreed.

The private comm channels of the Yondalao Institute of Diplomatic Education was a hotbed of rumors and information leaks, and Pilot had gotten access to them just by asking politely and sharing some of the data he and Moya had collected at the Nebari cordon. (There were still more questions than answers.) It was a little more challenging to get into the records of the Neutral Territories Flight Academy, but Moya managed it in under an arn, and when Ksenia passed her last exam, they knew it before she did.

Moya expressed the hope that young D'Argo and Ksenia would come back with Crichton and Aeryn, to stay with her for a while. They needed more crew, for the companionship alone. Perhaps they should have kept some of the Nebari refugees.

Pilot pointed out that it was entirely possible they'd pick up some refugees, anyway -- returning to Nebari space was not out of the question, especially as young Zhaan was still there, and the situation with Pax seemed under control. Then again, if young D'Argo and Ksenia, and little Ry, did join them, it was perhaps more likely that they'd stick to less volatile regions.

Speculation aside, it was shaping up to be another long and uneventful day. And then Moya got another of the Nebari signals painstakingly reassembled and laboriously decoded.

Like most of the messages sent after the Transmission threw almost everyone into violent insanity, it was short and not terribly informative. But underneath the static and jumpiness, the voice was recognizable. Some simple analysis and comparison to recorded samples on file confirmed it.

Pilot listened to the transmission again.  
 __  
It's me. Not totally secured, so I can't say much, but I may not get another chance. I'm pulling all my contact cells I can reach out of the urban centers, it may be safer in low-density regions. If I get access to usual channels I'll contact again. What the frell happened, bro?  
  
It didn't tell them anything about where she was now, or whether she was alive -- but fifty arns after the Transmission, Chiana had been alive and well enough to be giving orders and encoding messages and trying to find safety.

Pilot called Crichton and Aeryn at once.


End file.
